• Chapter 5


    “You take back, I take side, and Jake will take front when he gets here.” Aaron says as we hide behind a bush, planning out how to attack the Behemoth.

    “What about me?” Damien appears out of nowhere and Aaron and I share a look of panic.

    “Uhh...you can…be the distraction.” I respond as I give Aaron a ‘WTF-since-when-is-he-part-of-E.M.H.’ look. He shrugs in response before he grabs his blaster and runs over to duck behind one of the trees at the monster’s side.

    “HEY!!! BIG FAT UGLY THING!!!!!!! OVER HERE!!!!” The Locht turns to look at Damien and roars, and I start to panic, worried about Damien getting hurt. “COME AND GET ME YA FAT, UGLY FU--”

    The Locht uses it’s hand to throw Damien off to the side, and Aaron runs in with the blaster, ready to attack, and it hurls him through the air, grabs the blaster and bends it in half.

    Then it turns to me, who’s standing up behind the bush, blaster bent down in shock. It cries out once again, then charges at me.

    Scared, I scream, “JAKE!!!” hoping he would come already, even though I know all hope is lost.

    And, soon enough, he runs out of the trees and cries, “DEMI!!” and rushes out between the monster and me, points his own blaster at it and pulls back the trigger, and I watch as it blows up and bright blue goo flies everywhere.

    Shocked, I stagger back and then fall backwards onto the ground and sit there, covered in goo, staring down at the blaster in my gooey blue hands. “I-I don’t know what happened…I mean, it’s just like I was…scared.”

    Somebody kneels down before me, and then two hands are placed on the sides of my face and pull it up. I’m staring into Jake’s eyes as he wipes some of the goo off my face. “It’s okay. You can’t expect to be completely perfect.” Then he slightly smiles and adds, “Even though you pretty much are.”

    Blushing, I look down, but he forces my head back up and leans forward, closing his eyes. I do the same, and I can feel his breath hit my face and then--

    A ring. Two rings.

    All of a sudden, my eyes flash open again to find myself in my bed in my small bedroom. My blankets and sheets are tangled from tossing and turning all night, and my pillow are laying on the floor, along with books, magazines, school assignments and so on. My walls are covered in messy black paint and posters of my favorite bands and movies.

    I shake my head intensely, as if it would fully wake me up and get the dream out of my head. ‘How stupid,’ I think to myself as I untangle myself in my blankets, ‘I don’t love Jake! Hell, no! I love Damien!’

    Speaking of Damien, I turn to look at my cell phone on my crap-covered bedside table, which is on it’s seventh ring. “Hello?” I croak, still half-asleep.

    “Is this Demi?”

    “Oh, hi, Damien!!” I hastily clear my throat and sit all the way up. “How’d you get my number?”

    “Phonebook.” His dreamy voice simply replies, and I smile, becoming smitten--over the PHONE. THE DAMN PHONE!! “So, I was wondering, do you wanna hang out today? Like, maybe the park, or McDonalds, or--”

    “Just anywhere but the mall.” We laugh and then I say, “Sure. I’d love to. Lemme find out a time and place and I’ll call back later, ‘kay?”

    “Gotcha. See ya later, Demi.”

    “Yeah, you will.” I smile to myself as I hang up. Sighing, I get up, stretch, and trudge down the stairs to the living room.

    “WHO WERE YA TALKING TO?!” Dylan screams as he and Derek bounce over. I roll my eyes--obviously, they had been eavesdropping.

    “Chuck Norris.” I reply sarcastically as I make my way to the tiny kitchen.

    “OH MY GOD NO WAY!!!!” The boys freak out as I grab some Cocoa Pebbles--hey, it’s 11 A.M., and I stayed up late last night fighting a monster at the mall. What do you expect?

    I sit down on the couch and chew as I turn on the T.V. It’s on channel 5, and playing the morning news. Groaning, I sink back into the couch and put another spoonful of the thin, chocolate food material in my mouth.

    “Last night, a shocking scene broke out at the store Hot Topic in the mall in Silverdale.” I spit out my mouthful of cereal and ignore my brothers’ chorus of ‘ews’ and turn up the volume--Sequim’s small and doesn’t have a mall, and the one closest to us is the one in Silverdale, which is about an hour away. “It’s said that there was a fight with two girls over a dress--apparently Demi Rock won. But, my friends, is this the real story? Or is something sinister really behind this all?”

    I feel my heart start to race as I lean forward, caught up in the slightly tanned, blonde hair, bright blue contact lady’s words. “Perhaps, this girl is just being pointed to because she is Goth? Or maybe she has something greater to do with all this. Or, maybe, like I said, something sinister was happening, and she tried to stop it?” The lady, who’s name is Cherry Blossom, apparently, shrugs, and then says, “Who knows?” Suddenly, she points at the camera with her sparkly pink microphone, and the camera zooms out to show her outside the Silverdale mall. She’s wearing a white t-shirt with a light pink pencil skirt and thin jacket. “THIS PERSON DOES!!”

    “What the fu--” I cut off, seeing my two brothers laid out on the floor in front of me, almost as into the news as I am--but of course, they’re just trying to be like me. Or maybe they’re interested because their Gothic older sister was mentioned on national T.V.

    “I’m standing here with Sherry Locket, a Junior at Sequim High School,” She pronounces Sequim like ‘sea-k-wim-’, which really pisses me off. “who has history with this Demi Rock. Tell me, Sherry, what is this mysterious girl like?”

    “Well, uh, she’s Goth.” Sherry replies, glancing nervously at the camera and shrugging.

    Cherry leans forward, expecting more, and finally says, “And?”

    “Well, um, that’s sort of all.” Cherry frowns, disappointed, and then turns to the camera and starts to talk when Sherry cuts in, “OH!! WAIT!!!! She used to be like sort of well like really popular and best friends with the most popular people at school but one day, she, like, wasn’t, and she was even darker and like more Goth-like than before and like hanging out only with these two dudes, Jake and Aaron or something.”

    “Really?”

    “Yeah! Isn’t that, like, weird?”

    “Yes, yes it is…and interesting.” Cherry turns to the camera and says, “And that isn’t the only interesting thing. It has also been said that the body of an unconscious teenage boy, Damien Holmes, was found in the storage room of the store after this whole outburst--and that is where it is said that the fight began, where the dress was found. Hmm. Suspicious. People passing by the store also said they saw some sort of ‘creature‘.” She continues, using air quotes on the word ‘creature’. “Demi Rock, strange Gothic teenage girl, Damien Holmes, the unconscious body found, and the eerie creature with red eyes. Could this all be somehow connected? I promise you, America, that I, Cherry Blossom, will find the truth! But for now, this is Cherry Blossom, signing off. Good morning, Americ--”

    I grab the remote and shut the T.V. off when she’s in mid-word, then sit there for a little bit, shocked and frustrated. My brothers slowly turn to look at me and mutter, “Woah.”

    Ignoring them, I stand up, run upstairs, hurriedly throw on some black sweats, white shirt that says “PHYSICAL ED” in red letters, Jake’s hoodie--YES I STILL HAVE IT DAMMIT!!!--and run downstairs to through on my sneakers. Then I grab my skateboard propped up against the wall and call to my parents, who are standing behind the couch staring at the turned off T.V. in shock, “I’M GOING TO JAKE’S!!! BE BACK BEFORE DINNER!!”

    I jump onto my skateboard and ride down the street of my neighborhood, ignoring the stares from windows, porches, lawns, ect. Pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I ride over to a small two-story house by a lake out in practically the middle of nowhere. I remember the address from the many times Jake had yelled it when he got bored--yeah I don’t know either, it’s a Jake thing.

    Suddenly, I remember Damien. “Ah, s**t.” I mutter to myself. I stop by the driveway, pull out my cell and dial his number.

    “Demi!! Have you found out a time yet?” Damien answers in a happy voice.

    “Actually, I can’t go.” I reply hesitantly.

    “Why not?” He finally asks after a long pause, and I flinch at the way his tone drops.

    “Well, something urgent has come up that I can’t push away.” I respond, then after a moment add, “How about next Saturday?”

    I hear Damien sigh and then say, “Okay, Demi. Sure.”

    I grin as I walk up the steps to the house and then ring the doorbell. “Thanks, Damien. See ya.”

    “Wait was that a doorbe--”

    I push the end button and stand on the front porch, waiting for somebody to come to the door. After a minute or two, I push the round button carved into the wall again. Eventually, I knock on the door. Then knock on it three times. Then I start pounding on it until it opens and a figure appears by the door.

    A girl with blondish-brownish, wavy hair, heavy black makeup, pale skin, and a totally Gothic outfit answers. “Can I help you?“ She looks only 12, but seems evil.

    “Um, is Jake here?”

    “Depends. Who are you?”

    “Err, I’m his friend, Demi--”

    “You’re Demi!?” Her black eye liner and shadowed eyes widen and she then rushes to say, “Come in, come in!” She flings open the door all the way, grabs my wrist and pulls me inside. “Jake has told us all so much about you!! I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you! You’re, like, my idol! See, I even dressed like how he explained you!!!!!”

    I stand there, shocked, as she closes the door. “Wow.”

    “Oh, my God, sorry. Too much? I mean, I was sorta like this before, but, you know--”

    “No no no! I’m honored.” I grin and then ask, “But what’s your name?”

    “Oh, I’m Jade. I’m the 2nd oldest kid in the family--12, going 13!!--. Jake’s the first, and then comes the others.”

    “What others?”

    All of a sudden, three young kids who look almost identical--two boys, one girl--come running out of nowhere. “HI STRANGER!!” One of the boys shouts and waves up at me.
    I laugh and say, “Hey, there. Now who might you three be?”

    The girl pushes the boys aside, steps up to me, reaches her hand out to shake mine and says, “I’m Janice, that’s Jason, and that’s Jacob. We’re triplets. Nine years old! I’m the oldest, though.”

    “ONLY BY, LIKE, 1 MINUTE!!” One of the boys, Jacob, shouts.

    “STILL COUNTS!!” They stick their tongues out at each other and I laugh again.

    “Demi?” Jake descends a short flight of stairs carrying what looks like a baby around only 1 year old and a little 7-year-old looking girl gripping onto his leg and hiding behind him, peeking around to look at me with big brown eyes.

    “Hey, Jake.” I smile at him and he walks out in front of me, gives the baby to Jade, and then looks back at me with a confused look on his face.

    “What are you doing here?”

    “What, can’t I visit my best friend?” He gives me a look and then I sigh and say, “Okay, okay.

    Fine. I’m here because…err…” I look at the kids surrounding us, staring at us intensely. ‘They can’t know about this.’ I think to myself. Then, I say the first thing that comes to mind, “I need my English book that you borrowed for that assignment back.”

    “Oh, uh, okay. I thought that I already gave it back but I guess I can look.” He shrugs and turns to lead me up the stairs.

    Halfway up, I feel a tug on my leg, and look down to see the little 7-year-old looking girl looking up at me. “Will you play dollies with me???”

    “Um, Jasmine, this isn’t really the time…” Jake glances from me to the girl and back again, trying to talk and act as nicely as possible.

    Ignoring him, I lean down and ask her, “Bratz or Barbies?”

    “Bratz, duh!! Who likes Barbies?”

    I grin, laugh, give her a high five and then say, “Good choice. But maybe later. Right now I need to talk to your brother.”

    “M’kay!” She smiles as she skips away to the rest of her family hanging out in the small living room.

    Once we’re in Jake’s room and the door’s closed, I say, “Oh my God, they’re so cute!!” Grinning, I take off his hoodie, put it on his coat rack in the corner and then continue, “How come you’ve never told me about them before?”

    I turn to see Jake shrug as he searches through what looks like a desk in a small corner--I wouldn’t know, it’s covered in piles of papers and books. “I dunno. Subject’s never really come up.”

    I wander around his room, looking at the many things inside of it; un-kept bed, dirty clothes and 3 month old food covering the floor, soccer awards on a bookcase that looks like it’s about to fall over because of all the contents, blue walls, a mini T.V., a random fish bowl full of everything you need to keep a fish except for the fish--the list could go on and on.

    “So, there’s Jade, Janice, Jacob, Jason, and Jasmine.” I say, picking up a photo of his family in a picture-frame.

    “And Jennifer--that’s the 1 year old baby.”

    “Wow, you sure do have a big family.” I reply, sitting down on his bed as he moves over to the closet and starts tearing through it.

    “Yeah, well, Jen is my half-sister, and Jasmine isn’t even my real sister.”

    “What? Why? How?”

    Jake sighs and launches into explanation without looking up. “Well, my mom got re-married to some other dude not to long ago and Jen was born.”

    “What about Jasmine? And your real dad?”

    I think I saw Jake flinch at the mention of his real dad, but then he responds, “Jasmine’s adopted. She was an accident and her teenage parents didn’t want her so they gave her to an orphanage. And nothing special, really, or interesting about…my dad.” His voice trails off and gets quiet when he says “my dad”. He pauses for a second, but then starts digging again and then eventually gives up and says. “Look, I’m really sorry Demi, but I think I lost your book--”

    “Jake, you gave me my book back last week.”

    “Oh.” He looks confused and then asks, “Then why are you here?”

    “Did you watch the news this morning?”

    He snorts and then says, “No way. Why would I?”

    “Well, you gotta see this.” I look at the time on the digital clock on the top of the bookcase and then mutter, “Repeats about now.”

    I turn on the T.V. and flip to channel five as Jake says, “Since when do you watch the news, anyway?”

    “Shush.” I sit down on the edge of the bed and he slowly sits down next to me as he watches.

    After the repeat is over, he says, “We gotta get to H.Q. And fast.”